Administrative Profiles

Dick Pedersen - Director

Pedersen, who has been at DEQ since 1996, has served 30 years
in positions in Oregon and Montana in water quality,
environmental cleanup and natural resource damage repair. He was
named Director of DEQ in June 2008.

Joni Hammond - Deputy Director

Hammond has served at DEQ since 1989, working in water
quality, air quality and solid waste. Most recently, she has
served as Eastern Region Administrator. She previously served as
water quality manager for DEQ's Eastern Region.

Hammond has a B.S. degree from the University of Oregon in
School and Community Health. Prior to joining DEQ, she worked
for Yamhill County as an environmental specialist.

Wendy Wiles - Environmental Solutions Administrator

Wiles has more than 20 years of private business and public
service experience in the environmental health/safety field,
most recently serving as manager for DEQ’s Hazardous Waste and
Underground Storage Tanks programs. She oversees land-related
programs based at DEQ’s headquarters, including environmental
cleanup, emergency response, solid waste, hazardous waste and
underground storage tanks.

Wiles has a bachelor of science degree in Environmental
Health from Oregon State University. She earned a M.S. degree in
industrial relations in 1987 from the University of Oregon.

Lydia Emer - Operations Administrator

Lydia Emer joined DEQ in May 2014. Prior to May, she worked
for The Oregon Public Health Division, specializing in
performance management and quality improvement.

Emer has a master’s degree in Public Administration and
Development from the University of Birmingham, in the United
Kingdom. Her bachelor’s degree in American Literature and
History was received from the same university.

Nina DeConcini - Northwest Region Administrator

DeConcini has been at DEQ since 1993 and
most recently served six years as manager of the agency’s
Communications and Outreach office. She also worked in DEQ’s air
quality program. Prior to joining DEQ, she managed
transportation and other environmental programs at The Walt
Disney Company in southern California.

DeConcini has a B.A. in Religion from The
Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colo.

Keith Andersen - Western Region Administrator

Andersen has been with DEQ since 1992, working in water
quality and cleanup programs in DEQ’s Eugene-based Western
Region office. Most recently, he has served as Regional
Environmental Solutions manager for Western Region, as well as
Deputy Administrator for the Headquarters-based Water Quality
Division. Prior to coming to DEQ, he worked in the private
sector and for the U.S. Forest Service.

Andersen received a bachelor’s degree in Forestry from Oregon
State University and a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from
Portland State University.

Linda Hayes-Gorman - Eastern Region Administrator

Hayes-Gorman has been with DEQ since 1990, working first in
the solid waste program of the agency, then moving on to provide
business assistance in the air quality program. In 2006
she became an air quality manager in the Bend office and, in May
2010, became DEQ’s Eastern Region Administrator.

Hayes-Gorman has a master’s degree in Public Administration from
Portland State University and two Bachelor of Arts degrees, one
in Germanics and the other in International Studies from the
University of Washington.

Kerri Nelson - Central Services Administrator

Nelson joined DEQ in June 1990. For the past several years
she has worked as DEQ's Western Region Administrator. Nelson has
worked in the tanks, hazardous waste environmental cleanup and
water quality programs. Prior to becoming the regional
administrator, she managed the Rogue, Umpqua and South Coast
Basin water quality teams.

Nelson's educational background includes a bachelor's degree
in Finance Law from Portland State University and a graduate
degree in Geochemistry from Sul Ross State University, Texas.